There's a case to be made that our electronics are becoming too intelligent for their own benefit, and nowhere is this more evident than in the iPhone's autocorrect feature.

You're not alone if you've noticed that autocorrect has gotten worse in recent years. Apple has gradually added more intelligence to iOS. As a result, autocorrect frequently follows the wisdom of the crowd rather than the New Oxford American Dictionary's wisdom.

Joanna Stern (Apple News+) of the Wall Street Journal decided to do some investigation to figure out why autocorrect has become such a vexing experience, even going so far as to track down its originator. Stern did come to one unmistakable conclusion: we're still better off with autocorrect than without it.

I disabled autocorrect for a day and barely made it out alive. It was evident within minutes how much the program is saving us from ourselves.

Apple's autocorrect in 2007 was the catalyst for the development of a touchscreen keyboard in the first place. Many people, including myself, were unconvinced that a touchscreen keyboard would function in an environment where physical keyboards were the norm.
Are we asking too much of ourselves?

Stern sought out Ken Kocienda, the designer of the iPhone's autocorrect software, in her quest to learn more about the autocorrect experience. Kocienda departed Apple in 2017, so he's free to be more open about his involvement on the project - he even apologized to a waterfowl in Stern's film, saying, "It's all his ducking fault."

This poor critter has been tied to a specific level of vulgarity thanks to the technology you've made. What are your thoughts about it? Stern, Joanna

However, part of the issue is that people are unknowingly demanding too much of their iPhones as they want them to become smarter and more clairvoyant.

That's where the problem begins. The more you ask of it, the greater the chance of bugs and unexpected behavior. Kocienda, Ken

One of the most recent additions to Apple's autocorrect feature, crowdsourcing, is a prime example of this.

Apple has used its machine-learning algorithms to collect what people are writing on the internet and use it to train the autocorrect system, in addition to a static dictionary of actual words and a dynamic lexicon that learns what you wish to type.

These aren't dynamic, real-time changes to specific iPhone dictionaries, just to be clear. Instead, Apple uses this information to improve the code's algorithms, which are subsequently included in each new iOS release.

The good? With our more informal English—the "ur going to adore this" type of stuff—the autocorrect system can be updated frequently. The bad? Some say that it can detect our errors and really terrible writing habits. Stern, Joanna

Language settings can also affect the outcome. Because I live in Canada, where a big section of the population speaks French, my attempts to type ".ca" (as a domain suffix) are frequently autocorrected to ".ça" (a French pronoun). This does not happen when my language is set to American or British English.

Nonetheless, the iOS autocorrect system's dictionaries are supposed to have more weight than the machine-learning algorithms. There are three fundamental components to this, according to Stern:

The Static Dictionary contains terms from a dictionary that is acceptable for your language(s). The New Oxford American Dictionary is used in English (US), while the Oxford Dictionary of English is used in English (UK). Product names and sports teams are examples of common proper nouns. When the iPhone first came out, there were over 70,000 words, according to Stern, and the number has only grown since then.
The Dynamic Dictionary begins with a blank slate and expands as you use your iPhone. This extracts information from your contacts, emails, messages, Safari pages, and installed program names, as well as data from your contacts, emails, messages, and Safari pages. Because your iPhone backups include the dynamic dictionary, it travels with the rest of your data when you restore to a new iPhone.
Words in the "Foul Language" Dictionary should never be autocompleted. This is why, no matter how many times you try to choose something different, you'll always be offered "duck." There are workarounds (which we'll go into shortly), but the goal of this vocabulary was to minimize slip-ups like "your finger slipping when you're thanking Grandma for the gorgeous duck boots."

The dynamic vocabulary is updated after you write an unknown word at least three times, according to Kocienda, after which the iPhone will cease trying to change it into something else. Nonetheless, the iPhone must balance this dynamic lexicon with the static dictionary, and similar terms may cause it to become confused.

The static dictionary and the dynamic dictionary would be at odds with one another. Although the software is designed to break ties, it does not always choose what you would. Kocienda, Ken

It can also be thrown off by unusual capitalization, as Stern discovered when she came upon the word "NewsGrid," which she frequently uses. Her iPhone keeps insisting on changing it to "news-girl." According to an Apple spokesperson, this is most likely due to her habit of forgetting to capitalize the word.
Changing Autocorrect Behavior

Stern gives a few recommendations in her WSJ article for bending autocorrect to your will.

Making text replacement shortcuts is the simplest and most popular option. These will always take precedence over autocorrect, so you can use them to ensure that certain words are typed exactly as they are. These shortcuts are also useful for shortening lengthy snippets, such as your address and phone number, or even an email signature block.
Utilize your contact list. Because autocorrect's dynamic dictionary looks at words in your Contacts, Stern came up with an even more simple and ingenious solution: "My trick? In my address book, I included my favorite profanities as contacts."
Under Settings > General > Dictionary, see which dictionaries are enabled and disable any you don't wish to use. Autocorrect will attempt to complete your phrases using all of the selected dictionaries, independent of your primary language or keyboard settings.
Consider using a third-party keyboard. Alternative keyboards are available in a variety of programs, including Google's Gboard and Microsoft's SwiftKey. Some of these have their own autocorrect algorithms, which you may prefer. Stern also mentions Typewise, which has a "autocorrect undo" option.
Reset the dictionary on your keyboard. This is the "scorched earth" approach, but if you're really frustrated and everything else has failed, it's worth a go. This will clear the dynamic dictionary of learnt words, allowing you to start over.

Finally, Stern questions if autocorrect has gotten worse or if Apple has simply made the software far more aggressive than it was previously. She says we've also become "lazier typers" as we've grown accustomed to autocorrect correcting the majority of our errors, which makes it all the more upsetting when it doesn't. Apple could remedy this, according to Stern, by adding a "autocorrect aggressiveness slider" where consumers may regulate the level of correction.